Garmin GPS screen freezes

[+CollectorOfThings]

Hi All! I'm new to the game! My Garmin Oregon 650t freezes on me. Last time out it froze 3 times. It's new, bought last fall through Amazon.

Anyone else with this problem and how did you fix it!? I've contacted Amazon and waiting for an answer.

[+on4bam]

Do you run the latest firmware? If not, update to the latest version. Earlier Oregon 6** models had a tendency to crash/lock up.

 

[+CollectorOfThings]

I run Garmin Express before I load a pocket query into the GPS. It tells me it's up to date.

Is that the same thing as "latest firmware"?

[+kunarion]

3 hours ago, CollectorOfThings said:

I run Garmin Express before I load a pocket query into the GPS. It tells me it's up to date.

Is that the same thing as "latest firmware"?

 

Garmin Express manages firmware updates, but you have to approve the installation. Is it showing version 5.30 is installed?  Looks like that's the latest one.  I have version 5.00 on my 650T.  Look in the menu of the Oregon, in "About".  Maybe I'll wait a little bit before updating...

What kind of batteries do you use?  Have you tried fresh alkaline batteries (or lithium)?

What kind of maps are installed?

Are you keeping the GPX folder cleaned up?  You should be able to have hundreds of files in it, but since there's a problem to work on, it might be time to back up files and place just what you need.

The Oregon used to sometimes crash when particular caches were loaded.  Have you tried to narrow the possibilities?

You could try a factory reset, and see if it crashes with only factory stuff on it.  That would be informative.

I have a 650T, so if you begin to suspect the newest update (version 5.30), I'll install it on mine as a guinea pig.  I'm thinking there would already be a lot of posts here if that was it, but who knows.

If you're stuck, and you've pretty much tried everything already, or you haven't really installed anything funky that could create a problem, you should get in contact with Garmin Support.  You have a one year warranty.  Here's all I could find immediately:

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?productID=113520

 

Edited May 1, 2018 by kunarion

[+CollectorOfThings]

Thankyou Kunarion for your detailed response!

I have just checked Garmin Express and it shows Im running 6.3.0.0 and that an update to version 6.4.0.0 is available. Maybe this update will fix the problem?!

The batteries I'm using came with the 650t, it's the rechargeable pack. I looked into buying another pack for backup, they run about $50cdn.

Good idea!!!! I'll remove files I'm not using as they should probably be updated when I go back to the same area in case new caches are available.

Being new to the game I'm still not sure what or which caches could create a crashing issue.....it's definitely a learning curve.

I'll try all of the above before doing a factory reset! I'd hate to lose the maps I've installed. I've installed Open Street Maps.

[+Mausebiber]

Try the following:

If it freezes again, let it just go for 5-10 Minutes, the Oregon 600 series sometimes does a lot of indexing and other things in the background. Most of the time it is coming back and working normal.

 

[+Mausebiber]

1 hour ago, CollectorOfThings said:

I'll try all of the above before doing a factory reset! I'd hate to lose the maps I've installed. I've installed Open Street Maps.

I put all user data including maps on an external SD card.  This way, I can remove the card in case I need to reset the device.

 

Edited May 3, 2018 by Mausebiber

[+kunarion]

1 hour ago, CollectorOfThings said:

Thankyou Kunarion for your detailed response!

I have just checked Garmin Express and it shows Im running 6.3.0.0 and that an update to version 6.4.0.0 is available. Maybe this update will fix the problem?!

The batteries I'm using came with the 650t, it's the rechargeable pack. I looked into buying another pack for backup, they run about $50cdn.

Good idea!!!! I'll remove files I'm not using as they should probably be updated when I go back to the same area in case new caches are available.

Being new to the game I'm still not sure what or which caches could create a crashing issue.....it's definitely a learning curve.

I'll try all of the above before doing a factory reset! I'd hate to lose the maps I've installed. I've installed Open Street Maps.

 

Often the newest update addresses some issue that a lot of users had, or corrects an error in a previous update.  So it's in general fine to get the most recent one.

It would be good as Mausebiber said, to put maps on an SD card.  You can even put caches on that card, in a folder named Garmin/GPX, handy if you ever need to do a reset in the field and still have maps and caches available afterward.  I try not to remove/insert my SD card much.  The clip seems kind of cheesy.

If your device isn't complaining about the battery level, I think the battery is OK.  My 650T never did charge its battery pack, so I don't use that battery pack.  I have some nice rechargeable batteries to use when I have space to carry extras, and alkaline batteries.  And lithium batteries if I want to cache all weekend and not change batteries.

Edited May 3, 2018 by kunarion

[+CollectorOfThings]

23 hours ago, Mausebiber said:

I put all user data including maps on an external SD card.  This way, I can remove the card in case I need to reset the device.

 

Hello Mausebiber, Thankyou for your advice. I do put everything on the sd card. I actually put a little piece of tape on the clip to hold it in place just incase it popped out when I pull the batteries to unfreeze the GPS. I have let the GPS stay in it's "frozen" state for up to 30 minutes and it hasn't reset itself. Very frustrating! Thankfully I'm with other cachers, otherwise I'd never find my way out!

[+CollectorOfThings]

22 hours ago, kunarion said:

 

Often the newest update addresses some issue that a lot of users had, or corrects an error in a previous update.  So it's in general fine to get the most recent one.

It would be good as Mausebiber said, to put maps on an SD card.  You can even put caches on that card, in a folder named Garmin/GPX, handy if you ever need to do a reset in the field and still have maps and caches available afterward.  I try not to remove/insert my SD card much.  The clip seems kind of cheesy.

If your device isn't complaining about the battery level, I think the battery is OK.  My 650T never did charge its battery pack, so I don't use that battery pack.  I have some nice rechargeable batteries to use when I have space to carry extras, and alkaline batteries.  And lithium batteries if I want to cache all weekend and not change batteries.

I do put the caches in the Garmin/GPX on the SD card. I've also put a little piece of tape on the clip to hold it in place. A friend of mine lost her SD card when she changed batteries and she suggested the tape.

I'll try cleaning up the files on the SD card and see what happens. I'll post here after my next caching day to let everyone know how it all worked out!

 

[+kunarion]

16 minutes ago, CollectorOfThings said:

I do put the caches in the Garmin/GPX on the SD card. I've also put a little piece of tape on the clip to hold it in place. A friend of mine lost her SD card when she changed batteries and she suggested the tape.

 

The SD card will stay in place if the clip is correctly latched.  That's tough to do, and hard to tell if it's right.  I mention this because if it's not latched exactly right, there's your cause of the GPS crashing.

But, yeah, while changing the batteries, it's possible to unlatch the card, or at least that's when it falls out.  I've had that happen, but the way it fell right out, I'm pretty sure it wasn't latched right the last time.  I hate that kind of card holder.

 

Edited May 4, 2018 by kunarion

[+barefootjeff]

4 hours ago, kunarion said:

But, yeah, while changing the batteries, it's possible to unlatch the card, or at least that's when it falls out.  I've had that happen, but the way it fell right out, I'm pretty sure it wasn't latched right the last time.  I hate that kind of card holder.

I had that happen on a bus. I turned on the GPSr before reaching my stop only to find its batteries were dead, so replaced them with the spares I had, only with the bus bouncing around I dislodged the SD card without realising it. By the time I'd gotten off and realised I wasn't seeing any caches, the bus was miles away.

[+kunarion]

12 minutes ago, barefootjeff said:

I had that happen on a bus. I turned on the GPSr before reaching my stop only to find its batteries were dead, so replaced them with the spares I had, only with the bus bouncing around I dislodged the SD card without realising it. By the time I'd gotten off and realised I wasn't seeing any caches, the bus was miles away.

 

Mine leaped out onto the forest floor. I was pretty lucky to find it before it vanished.

I still swap batteries like that without care in the world. Maybe I should try some tape like COT does. If or when that clip unlatches, the card is launched away.

[+kunarion]

Double post.. Sorry.

Edited May 4, 2018 by kunarion

[+CollectorOfThings]

On 5/4/2018 at 2:14 PM, kunarion said:

 

Mine leaped out onto the forest floor. I was pretty lucky to find it before it vanished.

I still swap batteries like that without care in the world. Maybe I should try some tape like COT does. If or when that clip unlatches, the card is launched away.

I'll double check that the clip is in place and the tape didn't slip the last time I pulled the batteries.

I'm heading out Wednesday.....I'll try everything suggests (except a reset).....I'll post if it's "freeze free"....wish me luck!!!

[+hzoi]

I've had a few freezes in the past with more than one Garmin GPSr.  It could be due to a corrupted database. 

 

Reloading the geocaches.gpx file didn't necessarily fix the corrupted data, because the Garmin firmware doesn't necessarily check the database every time it boots.  I found I had to force a database refresh/re-index every time I updated the GPX file.

 

Try this:

 

- Connect the GPSr to your computer and start it up in storage mode.  (Or, just connect the SD card.)

- Delete the GPX file that contains all of your geocaches.

- Restart the GPSr (first reinserting the SD card if you took it out) in regular mode.  Check the geocaching mode to make sure it has no geocaches loaded.

- Use whatever method you normally use to add the GPX file to the GPSr or SD card.

- Restart the GPSr.  It should take longer than usual for it to boot, because it is creating a new index for the database.

[+CollectorOfThings]

Well yesterday went without a hitch!

My GPS didn't freeze!

I took out all the pocket query's that I wasn't using for this outing, four in total. I always update through Garmin Express before loading my caches. I double checked the SD card and clip and everything was in place and secure. When I turned the unit on this time, the display was different. So I reset it back to what I was familiar with. I had approximately 650 caches loaded for the area we were going to placed in the Garmin/GPX file as usual.

I feel I hadn't done anything different other than removing pocket query's that I didn't need. My hope is that if I do want to go to more than just one area I can load more than just one pocket query.

Thankyou all for all your help and input......I was a happy cacher yesterday